HSU cornerback remembered day after fatal crash

Published 6:00 pm, Saturday, January 19, 2008

Hardin-Simmons cornerback Brentdrick Walker, killed a day earlier in a motorcycle accident, was tearfully remembered Sunday by his teammates.

Witnesses reported seeing Walker traveling east on North 10th Street in Abilene at a high rate of speed on Saturday afternoon and veer to avoid hitting a car that had entered the intersection, police said.

"The driver of the other car saw the motorcyclist after he began to enter the intersection and stopped," police Sgt. Doug Wrenn said in Sunday's Abilene Reporter-News. "The motorcyclist, in an attempt to avoid a collision, veered right and laid the bike down on the side. In doing so, he slid into the driver's side of the car."

Walker, who was wearing a helmet, was taken to Hendrick Medical Center, where he was pronounced dead.

"Obviously, it is a horrible tragedy," Hardin-Simmons football coach Jimmie Keeling said in a statement released by the university.

"He was a super young person that had tried to do everything right with us," Keeling said. "He was a fun-loving kid that did whatever we asked him to do. It is always tragic when you lose someone at such a young age."

The Cowboys reflected on Walker's life Sunday during a tear-filled meeting.

"Brentdrick, David Joseph and I had this conversation on how we wanted to be remembered when we were gone," said teammate Shawn Woods. "Walker said he would be laughing and smiling down at all of us, because he would be in Heaven, but he also said don't ever forget me, don't ever forget me."

Walker, a junior, started all 10 games and had four interceptions in 2007. He recorded nine pass breakups and 52 total tackles, fourth best on the team.

Police are trying to determine the speed of the motorcycle before it crashed and awaiting toxicology reports on Walker, who was a standout high school player at Cedar Hill.